Congress broadens focus to Google After Mark hearings

Fb’s CEO went to Washington, in component, to fix relationships with lawmakers. but Congress also has the alternative tech giants in its attractions.

After months of intense stress, lawmakers eventually got their want: They gave Mark Zuckerberg a public roasting. The CEO of facebook testified this week in congressional hearings, which lasted nearly ten hours over days.

Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook systems do not see messages sent over WhatsApp

The hearings, earlier than both the Senate and the house, regarded to be a win for fb. Observers stated that Zuckerberg done strongly, appeared assured and equipped, and failed to tick off any lawmakers too badly. fb’s inventory, which had taken a tumble amid a major records privacy scandal, even rebounded all through the complaints.

That can be properly for fb, however it may imply new headaches for other businesses. specifically, Google and Twitter.

Zuckerberg landed in the warm seat in particular due to a controversy over Cambridge Analytica, a digital consultancy with ties to the Trump presidential marketing campaign that harvested the information of up to 87 million fb customers without their permission.

The scandal has shone a highlight on the trove of data the agency has on everybody, and how ripe it is for abuse. (facebook uses the records to promote ads.) however the social community is some distance from the simplest tech corporation that has heaps of personal statistics on humans all around the international.

Google, for example, stores statistics on you based on such things as your seek records, Gmail account and Google Maps queries. each Google and Twitter are advert-primarily based as nicely, and they’ve been beneath fire from lawmakers earlier than for abuse on their platforms. Google didn’t respond to a request for remark. Twitter declined to comment.